Unraveling the Effect of Sugar Treatment on Genes Involved in Flavonoid Biosynthesis Pathway in Arachis hypogaea

Abstract

Availability of nutrients regulates most of the plants metabolism (physiological and developmental processes). A diverse array of processes is regulated by the variation in the availability of soluble sugars, such as glucose and sucrose. The activation and inactivation of gene expression occurs by the signal transduction pathways where sugars act as signaling molecules. Expression profiling reveals that the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway is strongly up-regulated by sucrose treatment. both flavonol and anthocyanin contents are affected by sucrose. In the present study, we investigated the effects of sugar (Sucrose and Glucose) on genes involved in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway in Peanut (Arachis hypogeae). As an economically important legume, peanut was selected as experimental plant. The grain color, flavor of peanut and the antioxidant and antimutagenic activity is due to the presence of flavonoids. Flavonoid biosynthetic genes have been broadly studied in Arabidopsis, Petunia and Grape. The present study acquainted us with the effect of sugar treatment on the transcription and regulation of flavonoid genes in peanut. Expression analysis showed that Sucrose positively regulated flavonoid biosynthesis while Glucose down regulated most of the flavonoid biosynthesis genes.